Congress approved the concept of WIS, which will provide a single coordinated global infrastructurefor the collection and sharing of information in support of all WMO and related international programmes.

Goals

To serve as a global forum for the collaboration of developers and users of meteorological and related data products and services, and to advance the development of inter-programme operations.

5. Development and implementation of the new WMO Information System
(a) Completion of milestones agreed by Fifteenth Congress
(b) Number of implemented interoperability arrangements across WMO centres and with external partners
(c) Number of different functions including data discovery and information pull

Underlying the Strategic Plan is a fundamental need within meteorology, oceanography, hydrology and climate for understanding past and present states of the environment. This requires the collection and open sharing of information. In the case of the production of real time warning services this exchange of information needs to be rapid and reliable. Hence, the high profile of WIS within the expected results 4 and 5.

Objectives

Collection and sharing of information for all WMO and related international programmes

Flexible and extensible structure that will allow the participating centres to enhance their capabilities as their national and international responsibilities grew

Implementation upon the most successful components of existing WMO information systems in an evolutionary process

Smooth and coordinated transition

Basis for the core communication network will be the present communication links used within the World Weather Watch (WWW) for the high priority real-time data

Utilization of international industry standards for protocols, hardware and software

Requirements

A widely available and electronic (on-line) catalogue of all meteorological and related data for exchange.

to identify and to use the potential of data from observation sites established by one Programme to meet the requirements of other Programmes.

to harmonize data formats, transmission standards, archiving and distribution mechanisms to better support inter-disciplinary use of data and products.

standard practices for collection, electronic archival and exchange of metadata, both high-level and detailed, especially for stations and instruments.

the use of industry standards for protocols, hardware and software because of the rapidly evolving information systems technology (reduces costs and allows exploitation of modern communication services, including the Internet).

Flexible and extensible - able to adjust to changing requirements and allow dissemination of products from diverse data sources and allow participants to collaborate at levels appropriate to their responsibilities and budgetary resources

WIS shall support:

Different user groups and access policies, such as WMO Resolutions 40/25

Data and network security

Integration of diverse datasets

Variety of data types, common to all WMO programmes

Real and non-real time data sets

Routine dissemination as well as request/reply mechanisms for all data and products

Various communication protocols for data transmission matching exchange requirements, from email and GTS procedures to emerging Internet standards like Web- and Grid-Services

Using different types of communication links as available, appropriate and cost effective, including dedicated links and networks, e.g. GTS, satellites and Internet

Using off-the-shelf hardware and software systems, preferably open source software